Business Tasks To Do

I got to play one of yesterday's submissions solo yesterday a couple of times. I've been struggling to get some of the prototypes to the table recently, so I think soloing might be the way forward to get an initial feeling of the games. I need to spend more of my time testing my list of submissions. I've several which I've not yet played, and several I've not even scanned the rules for yet.

In addition, I need to start thinking more seriously about the It's Alive! re-print. I've been contacted by several Americans who are really interested in It's Alive! but couldn't afford the combination of full-price game and airmail shipping from the UK. Getting the game made professionally means I can sell to US shops (and hopefully others too!), meaning these customers will be able to get the game at a reasonable price. Either from a FLGS with no shipping, or from an online store which often offer discounted prices and free shipping for large orders.

I've contacted a few US shops that contacted me last year, hoping to stock It's Alive! when I couldn't really afford to sell it to them, and a German distributor. The German market may be a possibility because the game components only feature numbers no language-dependent text, and I've decided to include German rules in the box this time.

I've also had to do a few administrative tasks in the last couple of days. I've registered a bunch of barcodes, allowing me to place a unique barcode on the boxes of each of my games. It's an ongoing cost, but it allows me 1,000 barcodes, which I can use as I see fit. I've also VAT-registered which allows me to reclaim the VAT I pay on my purchases, and to sell to shops with VAT which is in their interest as they get to reclaim the VAT they pay on purchases from me.